


one single thread of gold tied me to you

by triplefire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, First Meetings, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, and then he met sokka and he fell even MORE for sokka, give zuko a hug, invisible string vibes go HARD, katara and zuko are best buds, maybe slight angst but truly nothing major, not a soulmate au but author still believes these two are FATED, only chapter 1 takes place at college, pretty brief non-detailed allusion to sex in final chapter but tagging just in case, what if zuko fell for sokka before he met sokka, zuko deserves good things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triplefire/pseuds/triplefire
Summary: The first time Zuko ever heard Sokka’s name, he was a junior in college. Zuko sat near the corner of his campus’s large communal patio and listened to Katara admit how much she missed her home.OrWhat if Zuko fell for Sokka before he even met Sokka and then he eventually met Sokka... and fell even more.ORZuko has zero faith in his ability to nab the dreamiest guy he's ever met, but luckily fate is on his side.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 102
Kudos: 553
Collections: A:tla





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU to all of you who wrote such nice things on my first fic! You gave me the confidence to embark on my first multi-chapter fic! 
> 
> I am very, very excited to share this with you. I already have most of the 4 chapters written. I hope to post chapter 2 in a day or two, and chaptes 3-4 later this week.

The first time Zuko ever heard Sokka’s name, he was a junior in college. Zuko sat near the corner of his campus’s large communal patio and listened to Katara admit how much she missed her home. At the time, she was halfway through her first semester and though she was trying her damndest in all her advanced courses, she was also the only freshman in most of them, and keeping up with her peers, her course load, all her commitments, was becoming progressively more challenging. Katara was smart and driven, but on nights like these, when the campus felt a little too quiet, when the days grew dark a little too early, she couldn’t help but feel a bit too overwhelmed, a bit too young and a bit too out of place. 

And Zuko, well, he could relate, in his own way. Feeling out of place was basically his default mode of being. Between the huge scar over the left side of his face (far from the only vestige of his father’s proclivity for violence but certainly the most noticeable) and his perpetual fear that he was never where he was supposed to be, or doing what he was supposed to do...it was a lot. 

Katara and Zuko were both pre-law and met in a literature class. They also bonded over their mutually active participation in the campus theater club (Katara enjoyed the performance part, Zuko was mainly interested in the playwriting component). Zuko had gravitated toward Katara’s confidence, her compassion. She was one of the good ones, clearly. Someone hurtling down the pre-law path because they actually wanted to advocate for others in need.

“The kind of law I want to do, there’s no money in it,” she had stated the week they first met. “But I want to make a difference.” Maybe she was a bit naive, a bit overzealous, but Zuko had appreciated how simple she made it all sound. 

Zuko on the other hand had no idea what the hell he was doing. Deep down he suspected he was only pre-law because that sounded less shameful and more practical than admitting that he was just taking a ton of English courses out of sheer enjoyment. That he wanted to study writing. That his deepest desire was to be a playwright and create the sort of complex, memorable plays that he had watched as a child, alongside his mother. 

During that night on the patio his junior year, Katara spoke about her family in such loving terms it made Zuko’s stomach clench.

“I don’t like to dwell on it, but I do miss them. I always tell my dad I’m fine and that he doesn’t need to worry about me. He still thinks I’m too young, to be so far away, or to be pushing myself so hard. But he understands. I just...I don’t want to admit it but I miss him _so_ much. I miss him and my step-dad and Gran Gran and I even miss Sokka, my ridiculous brother.” She let out a small laugh that sounded more like a huff and wiped at her eye. Then she continued, more softly, “I _especially_ miss Sokka. I didn’t think I would but I...I do.”

Zuko had no idea what to say. Missing a sibling? He couldn’t imagine missing his sister Azula like that. They weren’t quite as feral with each other as they had been when they were younger, and now that they were both in therapy he hoped they could eventually reconnect on better terms, but their current relationship was still far from warm and fuzzy. 

“That’s rough, buddy.”

Katara laughed and threw him a playful glare before sighing. “Sokka stayed nearby when he went to college. His university’s so close he still lives at home and everything. I thought he would maybe judge me for going so far away, maybe call me frivolous. But he took it in stride. He was like, ‘Of course, ‘tara. You gotta go for it. You’d never forgive yourself otherwise.’ I take for granted how much he knows me…” she stared off into the distance for a few moments, then shook her head. 

After that night, Katara brought up Sokka’s name semi-regularly. Zuko’s friendship with Katara continued, and every time Katara chatted about her visits home or relayed a hilarious anecdote from her childhood, Sokka’s name would inevitably pop up. Zuko snorted soda out of his nose when Katara told him about the time Sokka got a fish hook stuck in his body and then used _another_ fish hook to try to ‘fish’ it out (attempt: unsuccessful). 

Sometimes Katara’s Sokka-references were less amusing. Like the time she offered Sokka as a blind date for Zuko his senior year.

Zuko had practically choked on his tongue. “He doesn’t even go here. Also I don’t know him. Also he’s your brother.”

“He doesn’t go here, but he visits sometimes and he says he’s thinking of moving nearby after he graduates. He wants to get some hands-on engineering experience before even thinking about grad school, and there are a lot of professional opportunities around here, especially downtown. So, he will be close by!”

“Okay, well I still don’t know him—”

“i.e., the very premise of a blind date?”

“—and most _importantly_ , I can’t believe you would offer up your beloved brother as my rebound.”

Katara fell silent at that, obviously trying to think of a convincing reply. Zuko bit down on his fond smile. She never gave up without a fight.

“Well, I don’t think it would necessarily be a rebound. Just a change of pace. It’s not like you _just_ broke up with Mai. It’s been 3 months! So it would be less of a rebound and more of a sampling of what else is out there. A gentle dipping of your toes, if you will.”

Zuko put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her as seriously as he could muster. “Thank you. But no.”

“What if it was just a—”

“No.”

Zuko had already dipped his toes into the dating pool after his breakup, and the pool had been rather gross. A couple of awkward dates, a few weird ghostings, and far, far too many unsolicited dick pics with unfortunate lighting and bizarre angles (Zuko wasn’t 100% opposed to dick pics, but he needed at least a little bit of effort on the sender’s part). Zuko was starting to feel a bit cursed when it came to dating and he in no way wanted to experience a horrible blind date with his best friend’s brother, and then have to explain all the horrible-ness to her and look at her disappointed face. Best to not go down that road at all.

In Zuko’s final semester of college, he finally signed up for the math requirement he had been putting off for four years. Katara took the same class as him—“In solidarity” according to her, “Because you also have a math requirement” according to Zuko.

One day they found themselves in Zuko’s off-campus apartment battling their math homework. Each problem set was becoming more and more gruesome and Zuko was starting to feel anxious. They were surely going to have a pop quiz on this material later in the week, and Zuko needed at least a C in the class overall to fulfil his requirement and graduate on time.

Katara grabbed her phone from the table and tapped the screen a few times. “I’m just going to see if he can help,” she explained to Zuko as she brought the phone to her ear.

‘He’ turned out to be Sokka. Zuko sat at the table, fiddling with the pencil in his hand as he listened to Katara explain their tortuous homework to her brother on the other line. He could hear Sokka’s muffled answers. Or rather, he could hear Sokka’s muffled voice but couldn’t quite make out the words. Sokka at least seemed energetic, warm and enthusiastic about the call. And he seemed to instantly understand what the confusion was, how to solve the problem and how to explain it all to Katara so that she could finish the homework and coherently relay it all to Zuko. Every so often Katara would laugh at something surprising and amusing that Sokka had said. At the end of the call she thanked Sokka, hung up, shared her quickly-scribbled notes with Zuko, and the two of them finished their math assignment at record speed. 

After Zuko’s final classes of senior year wrapped up, he still had a week before graduation. He spent most of it just hanging around, reading a lot, saying goodbyes to some of his acquaintances that he wasn’t sure he would see again. He also helped Katara pack up her dorm room. In the middle of shoving textbooks haphazardly into a cardboard box (Katara said she had a ‘system’ but Zuko had a desire to finish up as fast as possible, and this desire overrode any alleged system), he spot a picture on her desk that he had never seen before. He paused to look at it, and before he could help himself he asked, “Who is this?”

“Hm?” Katara looked over her shoulder. She was in the process of untangling a cluster of fairy lights that had been hanging above her window. “Oh, that’s Sokka. From last time he visited. We took some pictures in that little park a couple blocks from here.”

Zuko said nothing more. He stared at the photo intently. This was Sokka? The man was...undeniably attractive. He was leaning against a tree, staring straight at the camera, his arms crossed. His sleek brown hair was pulled up in the back but trimmed down to an undercut on the sides. Multiple tattoos were scattered across the tan skin of his muscled biceps and forearms, and three tiny gold hoops hung from one of his ears. His eyes were the same icy blue as Katara’s, but with an easygoing brightness that made them sparkle. And then there was that dangerously wide, carefree grin to top it all off. Damn. 

He felt his face heat as he grappled with the realization that he had finally stumbled upon an image, a truly _excellent_ image, to go with all the stories and tidbits of information he had learned about Sokka over the past two years. This was the same person that repeatedly sent Katara care packages full of (sometimes expired) battered junk food, which she pawned off to Zuko more often than not. This was the same person who once used a boomerang to successfully knock his crying younger sister’s kite out of a tree. Who had injured nearly every bone in his body during years of pre-adolescent, comically clumsy mishaps. Who dropped everything to answer Katara’s (and indirectly, Zuko’s) challenging math questions. Who supposedly had a Tinder bio that read “I’m the meat and sarcasm guy” until Katara _and_ his ex-girlfriend had insisted he change it. 

Zuko continued to stare at the photo until one of the textbooks dropped from his grip to the floor and smacked his foot. Even as he bent down to pick up the book, even as his big toe throbbed with a dull pain, he had a single thought running through his mind again and again on loop: “I...turned down a blind date opportunity….with _HIM_?”


	2. The Accident

Two years, four months, one week and six days after his college graduation, Zuko found himself sitting in Katara’s immaculately decorated living room, trying to stay afloat amid all the chatter around him. He had visited Katara’s new place a couple times (it was only a few miles from his own and only a few more from their old campus) but had never met ‘the gang’ before today. The gang consisted of Katara’s boyfriend Aang, her pals Toph and Suki, and _usually_ —

“Sokka won’t be able to make it,” Katara had said soon after Zuko’s arrival. “He’s got a date.”

Figures. Zuko had long since accepted his destiny to never actually cross paths with Katara’s desperately photogenic brother, despite living in the same city finally. Katara had made a few attempts to introduce the two of them the past year, but it always fell through for one reason or another — Sokka had to leave town, Zuko had to unexpectedly work late, Katara was suddenly feeling too ill, etc. Zuko didn’t mind. A part of him worried the actual person might not be able to live up to all the hype. 

Zuko introduced himself to Katara’s boyfriend and friends to the best of his ability (a shaky “Uh… Zuko here” upon entering the living room). After that, he planted himself on the couch and nursed a beer, trying and failing to pretend that he didn’t feel unbelievably awkward. Mingling with a new group of people who already all knew each other was not his ideal Friday night.

An hour into the evening, Aang dug around one of Katara’s cabinets and found what looked like a large, brown wiffle ball. Aang’s eyes lit up and he immediately decided that he wanted to play catch, though Suki was his only willing accomplice. The two of them tossed the ball back and forth, making a silly word game out of it. Every time one of them caught the ball they had to invent a fictional animal hybrid. Koalasheep. Cowhippo. If they paused for more than a second before naming an animal combo, the other person would gain a point. Once in awhile Aang would toss the ball to Katara, who would roll her eyes, mostly with fondness, and rattle off “badgermole” or “catorgator” or “turtleduck.” It was clear that this was not the first time Aang had initiated this game. 

“Sit down here with us, Zuko,” Katara said, patting the floor next to her. Zuko sighed internally and slid down to the ground, positioning himself between Katara and the coffee table. 

Toph volunteered to keep score but was clearly doing an intentionally poor job at it, randomly adding and deducting points at her whim and laughing to herself when Aang didn’t notice. Aang was having a ball — no pun intended — and after watching the game for a while, Zuko couldn’t help but find it slightly endearing that this 22-year-old guy was filled to the brim with such easy enthusiasm and almost childlike wonder. He appreciated the way Aang seemed to encourage the same playful energy from Katara. 

“Suki, 25 — Aang, 11. Wow Aang, you really suck at this.” Toph stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

Zuko’s eyes drifted toward Suki, who was grinning at Toph, sitting a few feet to her right.

Before tonight, Zuko’s only association with Suki was her status as Katara’s brother’s ex-girlfriend. She was clearly beautiful, with shiny brown hair pinned back in a half ponytail, large doe-eyes and plush pink lips. So this was Sokka’s ex. Sokka’s type. Zuko was so busy staring at her that it took a second for his brain to register Aang yelling, “Zuko, catch!” He looked up at the airborne object hurtling toward his face and instead of doing the sensible thing and catching it or swatting it away, Zuko made a feeble attempt to duck. The ball only brushed the top of his head but unfortunately his face slammed against the corner of the coffee table. 

Katara rushed toward Zuko first. “Are you okay?”

Suki and Aang leapt to his side right after, both full of concern. 

“That looked painful!”

“I’m so sorry, Zuko! That never happens 99.9% of the time!”

Startled by the sudden ambush of attention, Zuko shot up from the ground. He touched his face and felt the beginnings of a bruise, maybe a cut, too. But the pain was minimal. He glanced around at the worried faces around him and wanted to reassure them.

“I’ve had worse,” he said with a small laugh. Anyone who’d ever seen his face would know that to be true.

This did not appear to assuage the others’ concern. Aang’s eyes seemed to grow to twice their normal size, staring at him like he was a wounded baby bird. Zuko coughed awkwardly. He mostly took his scar in stride these days, and it was easy to forget how horrific it must look to others, until he met new people and tried to make a joke at his own expense and everyone looked at him like...that.

Katara broke the silence. “Do you want me to grab some ice? You should really ice that, Zuko.”

“I’ll...I’ll get some myself, thanks. I’ll be right...back,” he said before hurrying out of the room. He needed some space. He entered Katara’s kitchen and opened the freezer door, digging around for an ice pack. He was sure that she’d have one, but he couldn’t find it, so he grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables and decided to make do.

“Zuko! I need to help you settle the score and get even with Aang!” he heard Toph yell from the other room. “Watch me defeat him in an epic and ruthless game of arm wrestling!”

“I didn’t _mean_ to scare Zuko,” Aang muttered glumly.

“Uh huh, Twinkle Toes. Likely story,” Toph retorted before raising her voice to yell again, “Or just regular wrestling, Zuko! It’s your call!”

Zuko snorted in spite of himself. She was a tiny thing but quite the firecracker. 

He placed the frozen bag against his face and started closing the door, “Okay, okay I’m—” The door slammed shut and suddenly Zuko was face to face with a man. “— com—coming!” he scrunched up his face in embarrassment at the way his voice cracked. This seemed to just amuse the man in front of him. Zuko swallowed, taking in the image before him. The dark hair, the lively blue eyes, the broad chest. Zuko remembered the photo well. Zuko lowered the frozen bag from his face, stunned into silence. 

This action seemed to stun Sokka _out_ of silence. “Hey man, are you okay?” he gestured to Zuko’s face. “That looks pretty rough.”

“Oh.” Zuko pointed to his scar. “This is just from when I was 13.” He then gestured to the bruise growing on the right side of cheek. “This is from two minutes ago.”

Sokka chuckled. “Yeah, I was talking about the fresh bruise. It looks like it’s bleeding a little.”  
  
“Aang ambushed me with a children’s toy.”

“Well, it is Friday.”

“It was, um, an accident,” Zuko said. He had no idea how to talk to this guy. He was not mentally, emotionally or physically prepared to banter with a hot man right now. 

“Doesn’t make it hurt less,” he said with a small frown. “You want me to take a look at that?”

“Uhh..I…”

“C’mon,” Sokka motioned at Zuko to follow before turning on his heels and heading out of the room. “Katara’s got some first aid stuff in the bathroom.”

Before Zuko knew it, he was standing in Katara’s bathroom, his back against the sink, trying not to blush as Sokka’s hands gently framed his face. The warmth of his fingers felt nice. Sokka stared at Zuko with intense focus, sticking out his tongue in concentration as he blotted at the wound with antiseptic. 

The room felt so quiet, Zuko could hear his own heart palpitations. He needed to break the silence. He grappled for a topic.

“How was your date?” he finally landed on, then winced. What an awkward, nosy to thing to ask someone you had just met! 

Sokka just huffed out a laugh. “Well, it ended before 8pm so...not so good.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“I’m not,” Sokka shrugged. “Just wasn’t meant to be.” He flashed Zuko a hesitant, almost sheepish grin before reaching for a band-aid from the counter. 

Zuko felt so nervous as Sokka’s hands returned to his face. Much too nervous to look at Sokka head-on. But then a voice at the back of his head whispered, _This is your only chance_. And that voice was right. This was his only chance to be in such close proximity to this man, this startling character he had spent _years_ hearing about, this indisputable...dreamboat. Gods. He had to get a hold of himself. Zuko inhaled a slow breath to steady himself and then raised his head slightly, finally looking directly into Sokka’s focused, clear blue eyes. Sokka’s lips were only inches from his own and Zuko realized he could feel Sokka’s breath on his own face.

“Almost done,” Sokka muttered, pressing the band-aid against Zuko’s cheek. Zuko was impressed by how easily Sokka patched him up without causing Zuko any physical discomfort. 

“You’re good at this,” Zuko said softly. “You could be a nurse or a doctor.”

“You’re too easy to please,” Sokka said teasingly, but his tone was good-natured, his eyes bright with humor. 

If someone told Zuko that in that moment the room they were currently in was shrinking, that the walls themselves were compressing, he would have believed them. All he could think of was the narrow space between their bodies, the heat emanating from Sokka’s skin. Zuko couldn’t break eye contact and he could barely breathe. He had never felt so...enchanted. Did it only take one sweet, gorgeous dude tending to his wounds to completely incapacitate his brain? Apparently. Zuko felt his face warming and knew he was probably flushing from forehead to chest.

“There,” Sokka whispered, giving the side of Zuko’s face a final tap with the pad of his finger before lowering his hands. “Good as new.”

Zuko quietly snorted. “Not quite,” he said, gesturing to the other side of his face, the scarred side. He cleared his throat, immediately regretting the comment. He looked down in a flicker of embarrassment but then forced himself to look up again, barely catching the way Sokka’s gaze softened into something even more tender. Sokka didn’t look uncomfortable at all. 

“You’ve got a great face. I mean it.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks. You too.”

Sokka laughed warmly, tossing the used up ointment tube and the band-aid wrapper into the trash. Zuko stepped away from the counter and opened the door. Suddenly, he realized he had completely forgotten to introduce himself.

“I’m, I’m Zuko by the way.”

“Oh, I’m aware.” Zuko’s stomach fluttered at the tone of Sokka’s voice, low and knowing. “My sister brings you up all the time. I’m Sokka.” 

Zuko swallowed. “I know.”

***

The next morning, Zuko marched himself over to Mai’s apartment and as soon as she let him in he flopped down face first onto her bed.

“Rough night?” she asked dryly. She was far too familiar with his anxiety spirals at this point. After their breakup in college they had managed to remain friends and were much closer now than they had ever been during their romantic relationship. Mai was by his side and held his hand (sometimes literally) during many of Zuko’s tough decisions. Like earlier that year when he blatantly disregarded The Responsible Path of law school and chose to work at a performing arts non-profit for local youth instead.

Zuko tried to answer with “You could say that” but his face was still planted in the bed sheets so it came out as a string of muffled, unintelligible sounds. 

“Who punched you?”

Zuko turned his head to look at her. “Katara’s nice boyfriend tried to play catch with me and I dove toward a coffee table.”

Mai hummed. “As sensible as ever.” She remained mostly expressionless but her lips quirked up ever so slightly.

Zuko decided to cut to the chase. “I also met the most gorgeous guy yesterday,” he said with a groan.

“Kudos.”

“It’s Sokka.”  
  
“Why is that name so familiar?”  
  
“He’s Katara’s brother. She brings him up constantly.”

“Oh.” And now her lips were quirking up even more. This was a full-on evil smile, by Mai’s standards.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything. Just, ‘oh.’”

“It’s the way you said it.”

“Did you ask him out?”  
  
Zuko balked. “Of course not. I couldn’t...I don’t know. It’s a bit intimidating, you know?”

“So you’re scared.”

Zuko flipped himself over so he was sitting on her bed, his legs dangling off the edge. Mai walked over to the mirror and started piling her jet black hair atop her head, inserting bobby pins here and there. 

“He seems really, um, great. And special. And way out of my league.”  
  
“Zuko,” she said warningly. “Leagues are not a thing. That’s just a weird worry in your head that you have to get over. Trust me.” She turned on her heels to eye him directly. Two small buns now sat on either side of her head, and the rest of her hair cascaded down her shoulders. She grabbed a comb and ran it through her bangs. “Now tell me why he’s so special.”

“He’s just...like I said, gorgeous. And friendly. And I know he’s smart and apparently a world-class brother and…” he trailed off, not knowing how to put the next bit into words.

“And what?”

Zuko sighed and glanced out the window. “He sort of patched me up after the mostly-self-inflicted injury incident last night. He was sweet about it. Gentle. And he didn’t ask me about the scar, even though I assumed he would. I expected him to the whole time. But he didn’t. He just touched my face so softly and was so open and patient during all my awkwardness which is strange because people usually aren’t and...I don’t know. It was nice. He’s nice. He has like 10 arm tattoos and a cool haircut and a generous laugh and he’s nice.”

Mai walked over and pressed her index finger firmly into his chest. “Ask. Him. Out.”

“I can’t.” He wanted to. “It would be weird.” Gods, he wanted to. “Besides, I ran out of Katara’s so fast last night and who knows when I’ll see him again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos are appreciated. 
> 
> And if you live in the US and can vote...uh, please vote!


	3. The Bonfire

Zuko had not expected an invite to Aang’s birthday bonfire, but, apparently, Aang was the friendliest guy on the planet, or maybe Katara forced Aang to extend the invite, or maybe Aang still felt a little guilty about the wiffle ball incident, two months before. In any case, Zuko walked down to the beach, hands deep in his pockets, trying not to shiver under his coat. It was a colder night than he expected, and the shore was especially windy and chilly. Zuko located the group quickly. Katara waved Zuko over to an area with a bunch of towels, beach chairs, coolers and a barbeque. And a very empty fire ring.

He waved at her as he approached the scene. “Um. I know I just got here but I’m noticing this birthday bonfire is sorely lacking in bonfire.”

Katara rolled her eyes, but her lips turned up in a smile. “We’ve been struggling,” she gestured to the discarded kindling off to the side of the bonfire ring. “I guess it’s windier than usual? We haven’t been able to keep a fire going and we’re still waiting on lighter fluid.”

“We’re going to need a fire to make this cold tolerable,” Zuko said.

“Don’t fret! Drink beer!”

Zuko looked over to see Toph sitting in the sand, joyously holding up a can of beer. Suki was at her side, giggling at Toph’s antics. Aang sat across from them, chatting with a few other people Zuko had never met before.

Another gust of air rolled through and Zuko shivered. Well, Zuko did not want to freeze tonight. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He gathered some of the materials to the side of the ring — a respectably long piece of kindling and a rather sad looking tinder bundle. He collected a few smaller pieces of kindling and arranged everything in the fire ring meticulously, trying to account for the wind. Finally satisfied, he grabbed the lighter perched on a nearby chair, lit the tinder and watched the fire slowly but surely grow until it became an acceptable bonfire. No lighter fluid necessary.

“Wow, Zuko,” said Suki, eyes wide and impressed. “Were you a boy scout or something?”

Zuko shrugged, modestly. “My uncle taught me.”

“Zuko is decidedly not a boy scout,” Katara said with a smirk. Zuko shoved her playfully.

Toph held her hands up to the fire and shuddered with delight. “Sparky, you are a pyro-genius. You definitely deserve a beer now.” She dug her hand into the cooler by her feet, pulled out a can and tossed it in Zuko’s direction.

“Hey, you guys finally got the fire going!”

Zuko looked over his shoulder and saw Sokka heading toward the group, arms full with two large grocery bags. Aang bolted over to give him a hand.

“That’s all Zuko,” Aang said excitedly. “He’s a fire-starting master!”

Sokka locked eyes with Zuko and grinned appreciatively. “Nice. I was worried these losers were going to be shrouded in darkness all night.” Zuko could only muster a nervous, strangled-sounding laugh. Sokka looked stunning. His hair was down, framing his cheekbones perfectly. He wore a large blue hoodie that somehow managed to hug his athletic build and make Zuko all too aware of his broad shoulders and muscular arms. As if he weren’t already.

“I don’t recall you having much success with the fire before you left,” Katara said pointedly.

“Before I left to go generously pick up groceries for your boyfriend’s birthday barbeque you mean?” Sokka batted his eyes at his sister, feigning innocence. “‘Thank you Sokka I am ever so grateful,’ you mean?”

Katara narrowed her eyes to a glare but her lips were wriggling into a reluctant smile. “Thank you Sokka I am ever so grateful.”

Sokka laughed. “That’s right. Anyways, I’m the food guy. Not the fire guy.” He planted his hand on Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko stiffened, startled by the sudden contact. “Speaking of...care to help me light up the barbeque, Zuko?” Zuko nodded, feeling faint. The body of water to his left was nothing compared to how Zuko felt drowning in Sokka’s blue eyes. Could someone become addicted to eye contact? Zuko shook himself out of his cloud of delusion and followed Sokka over to the makeshift food station.

After the barbeque was lit, Zuko hung by, not wanting to leave Sokka’s side, in spite of his nerves. He felt like a moth drawn to a flame, forfeiting any sense of self-preservation to instead follow an urge that he suspected was as dangerous as it was consuming.

Sokka seemed fine with Zuko’s presence. He joked around and carried the bulk of the small talk. Zuko learned that Sokka lived only a few blocks away from the beach and had recently started a mechanical engineering position at a tech company in the city. He was still hoping to get his PhD in the future but for now he was trying to learn as much as he could in his field.

Zuko told Sokka about his own job, working with youth in the community arts space. About how thrilling it was to introduce kids to an activity that had brought him joy as a child, that continued to bring him joy to this day.

“That sounds so awesome,” Sokka said, with such open sincerity Zuko felt his heart squeeze in his chest. “Katara mentioned you’re also into playwriting?”

Zuko nodded, trying his damndest to regulate his heart rate. Chatting with an unbelievably cute guy about his most sacred interests? It was too much but also, somehow, not enough.

“I’m still writing whenever I get the chance,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t pay the bills, but I’ve written a couple plays in the past year. And I was even able to do a staged reading of one of them recently, at a local theater.” He paused, worried his response was a little braggy or a little too pretentious or maybe too flat-out nerdy. But Sokka just looked interested. So Zuko kept going, and their discussion of playwriting veered into art in general, and then into a tangent about the best music from their childhood, and then into the most recent films they loved and hated, until the first round of patties were ready.

“Okay, pick your poison,” said Sokka, gesturing to the grill. “The birthday boy is vegetarian so in solidarity we have an assortment of faux meat patties. These on the left are fake meat that taste like real meat. These on the right are ultra-green garden patty things that taste like...bird seed.”

Zuko snorted. “I’ll take one fake-meat-that-tastes-like-real-meat.”

“Good man,” said Sokka, patting Zuko on the back with his free hand. “Coming right up.”

Later in the night, Zuko gravitated closer to the bonfire and sat down next to Katara. By that time, he had spoken to nearly everyone at the gathering, including Aang’s college buddies Haru and Teo. It was a nice group.

“Thanks for coming tonight. I know meeting a bunch of people isn’t really…your scene,” said Katara.

“I’m enjoying myself.” Zuko was surprised to find that he wasn’t lying.

“So,” Katara nudged Zuko’s shoulder. “What do you think about Sokka?”

Zuko swallowed and stared into the fire. He did not want to think about why Katara singled _Sokka_ out of everyone else he had recently met from the gang.

“He’s, um.” He tapped against the side of his nearly empty beer can. “He’s, yeah. He’s cool.”

“Right.” She thought for a moment, then continued. “I think he really likes you.”

Zuko choked on his own breath, grateful that he hadn’t chosen that moment to take a sip. “What?” he sputtered. “How can you tell?”

Katara laughed. “Please. It’s Sokka. It’s written all over his face. He looked all lovey-dovey at you while you were gushing about your play, don’t think I didn’t catch that.”

“Okay but he hasn’t explicitly told you that he likes me.”

“He _explicitly_ told me that you have the most ‘unreal eyes’ he’s ever seen.” Her gaze zeroed in on Zuko’s face, staring him down. “He said that right after you left, that night at my apartment. Among other things.”

Unreal eyes. Unreal eyes? Was that a good thing, or not?

Zuko’s thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone plop down to his right.

“Whatcha talking about?” Sokka asked, cracking open the lid of his beer and taking a long gulp. Zuko watched the drink travel down his throat, eyes glued to Sokka’s bobbing Adam’s apple.

“That time Zuko dove toward my coffee table like it was a swimming pool,” Katara lied easily.

Toph grinned mischievously from across the fire as she piped up, “It’s not Zuko’s fault he has a debilitating fear of balls flying toward his face.”

“There goes my social life,” Zuko muttered automatically. His eyes widened when he realized what he had just said.

Sokka started laughing. “Did you just quote Clueless?”

Zuko let himself relax. “Um, yes. I… it’s a good movie.”

“No, it’s a _great_ movie,” Sokka said. He paused, turning his body so it was angled closer to Zuko, his eyes roving over Zuko’s face. “You’ve healed up nicely.”

“Thanks to you,” Zuko said softly. He decided to ignore Katara’s scoffing, “Come _on_ ” to his left. He focused instead on how damn close Sokka was, how his lips looked pink and perfect and so fucking kissable. Realizing he was staring, Zuko averted his gaze. He felt a shiver go up his spine as another gentle gust of wind blew past.

“You’re cold,” Sokak said matter-of-factly and started peeling off his hoodie.

“Oh, no, I’m, I’m fine,” Zuko stammered. He definitely did not need Sokka exposing his well-toned arms when they were sitting this closely together.

Sokka placed the hoodie over Zuko’s shoulders. “You need it more than me, your face is getting red from the cold. You don’t want to get sick. Besides, I run warm. This weather’s nothing to me.”

Zuko didn’t have the heart to explain that his reddening face had nothing to do with the cold.

“Big strong Sokka to the rescue yet again,” muttered Katara. Zuko needed her pushy-matchmacking to go down a notch or two if he was going to survive this night.

“Why didn’t you bring your date from the other night, Sokka?” asked Haru, perched on a log across the bonfire.

Zuko’s eyes darted to Sokka and watched as Sokka carded fingers through his smooth curtain of hair.

“Oh, uh—”

“He was quite the looker,” Teo grinned.

“Yeah, well,” Sokka huffed. “I don’t think it’s gonna work out. It was just a couple dates anyway.”

“Another one bites the dust?” Haru said.

“What does that mean?” snapped Sokka, a bit tersely.

“Nothing.” Haru looked surprised and genuinely taken aback by Sokka’s defensive tone. “It was just a—sorry. I know you’ve been dating a lot lately and we’ve just been waiting to see who sticks.” Haru shrugged a little helplessly, glancing around, as if hoping someone could help dig him out of the hole he had buried himself in.

“I’m just...I don’t know.” Sokka looked down at his hands. “Taking my time I guess, trying to see what feels right.”

Suki piped up, “Sokka has _very_ high standards, as he should. He only dates the best.” She flashed him a wink.

Sokka grinned at her and raised his can in her direction. “Damn straight.”

Zuko stood up suddenly, wobbling a bit from the booze and feeling a bit foolish, though not quite understanding why.

“I think I should probably head out now.”

“Really?” Sokka’s eyebrows furrowed. “The night’s still young.

“Um, I have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” Toph pointed out.

“Erm, yes. Lots of early morning errands.” Zuko scanned his eyes quickly around the group, avoiding Sokka’s gaze. “Thanks for inviting me Aang.”

“You bet!” Aang beamed, cheerful as ever.

Zuko looked down at Katara and saw her confused expression. She opened her mouth hesitantly like she was trying to figure out how to question his abrupt departure. Zuko simply nodded at her and gave her a quick, small smile that probably looked more like a grimace.

He had tried so hard to temper his expectations, but perhaps subconsciously he had started buying into Mai and Katara’s encouraging words, started allowing himself to hope that picturing himself with Sokka wasn’t a mere delusion. But that was a mistake. Falling for his friend’s disturbingly hot brother was one thing, believing that said hot brother would ever settle for Zuko and consider him to be a viable dating option was another.

He hurried off in the night, alone. He was far from the beach and the bonfire before he realized he was still wearing Sokka’s hoodie.


	4. When Sokka Met Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's rewind a sec...
> 
> ***
> 
> (If a POV switch isn't your cup of tea, feel free to skip this chapter. It covers plot from the previous 3 chapters and isn't necessary to understanding the final chapter. The next and final chapter will be back in Zuko's limited-third-person perspective, and will cover new plot.)

******i. _before_ **

Ever since Sokka’s baby sister traded her childhood bedroom for a dorm room 2,600 miles away, Sokka had made it his mission to keep in touch with her as much as possible. That meant text check-ins, frequent phone calls, occasional video chats. That meant care packages and letters and spontaneous visits.

When had he become such a sap?

He couldn’t help himself. He worried about her even though he knew that if anyone could fully take care of themselves at 18, it was Katara. Their phone calls meant more to him than he could say. It was always reassuring to hear her voice, to listen to her chat away excitedly about whichever nerdy class she was obsessed with on any given day. 

When Katara started bringing up the name Zuko, he first thought nothing of it. But then she kept bringing him up. Often. It was clear to him that his little sister had a major crush on this dude. That could be the only explanation. She was always like “Oh, Zuko took me to this cute tea shop” or “Zuko’s been writing scenes for our theater club and they’re so good” or “Zuko has martial arts training and experience with sword fighting, I bet you’d like him.” Who the hell was this guy?

“So are you two going steady yet?” he asked her on one of their phone calls, after she shared a rather adorable anecdote about how grumpy Zuko had been at an off-campus party. He apparently refused to move from his corner of the living room the entire night but still stayed as long as Katara did and walked her home afterward. 

“What?” she cried, half aghast, half amused. It was a Tuesday night, she had just left one of her class lectures and he was lounging around at his own campus, killing time before a shift at his tutoring gig.

“Whatever kids are calling it these days. Are you two a thing?”

“Zuko and I are one hundred percent not a thing and never will be. We’re just friends.”

“I dunno, ‘tara, he sounds like a catch. Playwriting genius? Super fit martial arts hunk? Always brings up his sweet uncle? Ticking a lotta crush-worthy boxes. A real prince among men.”

“I think I can feel your drool through the phone.”

“Hm, that’d be gross.”  
  
“Sokka, maybe _you_ think he sounds dreamy but I promise we’re just friends.”

After a while, Sokka teased Katara about her possible crush less and less. Eventually, it just seemed obvious that she had been telling the truth the entire time. Katara and Zuko were close, but platonic. From all the stories Sokka heard of Zuko, from all the times Katara brought up his name, he gathered that Zuko must be a pretty solid friend, and he was happy that his sister had someone she could count on while she was so far from home.

******ii. _the accident_**

The date was a bust. Sokka figured it out when he and the woman across from him exhausted all possible conversation topics and shared interests...before the appetizers had even arrived. 

It was fine. You win some, you lose some. Never mind that Sokka had been ‘losing’ a lot lately when it came to dating. He was trying to put himself out there, trying to get more comfortable with first dates. The experience, the practice. That’s what mattered right now. He had a plan: date frequently and then, eventually, fall in love. Okay. Not a very detailed plan, but still. It was something. So he had to keep putting himself out there, had to keep meeting new people, even if sometimes those new people did bizarre things like yank his hand over the restaurant table and tell him that the life line and the love line on his palm indicated he would have a “long yet miserable life and likely die alone.” 

Since his night had been cut surprisingly short he decided he would make an appearance at Katara’s. She always had decent snacks at her group hangs, and better-than-decent words of advice when he was feeling down. He just hoped Aang wasn’t playing that ball word game again. 

He used the spare key Katara had lent him to let himself into her place. The _polite_ thing to do would be to immediately greet the gang in the living room, but he decided his somewhat shitty night warranted a quick pause on politeness and instead made a beeline to the kitchen to grab a drink. Someone was already in the kitchen, their face hidden by the open freezer door. Sokka walked closer to the fridge.

“Okay, okay I’m—”

The door slammed shut and Sokka was face to face with an unfamiliar man. 

“Com—coming.”

The stranger's voice cracked slightly and Sokka bit down on his bottom lip, stifling a laugh. The guy was holding a bag of frozen vegetables against his face and looked stunned as could be. It suddenly hit Sokka. This was Zuko. It had to be. Katara mentioned he was coming over today to meet the gang.

Zuko lowered the bag from his face, revealing a bruised and bloody cheek. Yikes.

“Hey man, are you okay? That looks pretty rough.”

“Oh,” said Zuko. He pointed to his scar. “This is just from when I was 13.” He pointed to the other side of his face. “This is from two minutes ago.”

Sokka chuckled, his mind simultaneously arriving at two very important conclusions: 

  1. Zuko had mistakenly assumed that Sokka was a weirdo who couldn’t tell an old scar from a fresh gash; and, more importantly, 
  2. Zuko had an extremely sexy voice. 



Like, he could probably make a shit ton of money on a phone sex hotline. Or maybe even just voice work in general. Fuck. It was raspy yet soft at the same time. 

“Yeah, I was talking about the fresh bruise. It looks like it’s bleeding a little.”

“Aang ambushed me with a children’s toy.”

Classic. “Well, it is Friday.”

“It was, um, an accident.”

That! Voice! Sokka wanted to fucking _bathe_ in that voice. But he tried not to let it distract him from the problem at hand, which was that Zuko was clearly downplaying the situation and for some reason didn’t think anyone should worry about his obvious injury. Well, the least he could do was drag Zuko off to a small, intimate space like, say, Katara’s bathroom and tend to his wounds in private. You know. To be a good Samaritan and all.

Once they were facing each other in the bathroom and Sokka was mere inches from Zuko’s face, Sokka tried to focus more on first aid and less on ogling...with minimal success. It wasn’t his fault. He carefully applied antiseptic onto Zuko’s face and wondered what the fuck was Katara’s problem. How did she never mention that her college best friend looked like... _this_ _?_ Sokka had never met someone so effortlessly gorgeous. Delicate features, shaggy black hair that looked soft to the touch, magnetic honey-amber eyes. He had never seen eyes like that before. He wanted to spend all night figuring out the exact shade of those eyes, studying the flecks of gold until he knew them as well as constellations, but he also wanted to be not-creepy and concentrate on touching Zuko as painlessly as possible. 

And Zuko was just standing there, right in front of him, patiently allowing Sokka to play the haphazard doctor. 

“How was your date?” Zuko finally said.

Ah. So Katara had told him. “Well, it ended before 8pm so...not so good.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“I’m not. Just wasn’t meant to be.” He grinned at Zuko. Sure, he had been disappointed during the actual date but he couldn’t care less at this moment, when Zuko was averting his gaze, sweet and hesitant. He smelled like jasmine and something spiced, and his face was soft and oh-so-close, a faint blush blooming beneath Sokka’s hand. Sokka swallowed hard, but his throat was dry. 

Suddenly, Zuko looked up and made steady eye contact and Sokka swore it felt like tectonic plates shifting. Magnetic eyes was _exactly_ right. He could get lost in those eyes, wanted to drift ever nearer…

Okay, no. Care for the wounds, Sokka. Care for the wounds and don’t make a pass on your sister’s best bud right after he’s experienced a head injury.

“Almost done,” Sokka muttered, a reminder more for his own benefit than for Zuko’s.

“You’re good at this,” Zuko said, his voice so low and hushed it sent a chill down Sokka’s spine. “You could be a nurse or a doctor.”

“You’re too easy to please,” he said with a laugh, but he preened at the praise. Hah. Take that Katara — he wasn’t _always_ a clumsy disaster that needed others to patch up his injuries. Sometimes he patched up _other_ fellow clumsy disasters. 

He finished applying the band-aid to Zuko’s face and had to resist cupping his cheek for longer than necessary. He really didn’t know what had come over him. Well, yes he did. He was in a tiny room with the hottest guy he had ever seen, and the hottest guy was staring right back at him intensely and preciously, as if Sokka had just hung the fucking moon for him and not simply pressed a glorified sticker to his face. Their lips were so close, he could smell Zuko’s minty breath and he knew he had to pull away before the gravity of those eyes made him do something completely ridiculous. 

“There.” His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears. “Good as new.” He lowered his hands, the warmth of Zuko’s skin branded on his fingertips.

***

Zuko did not stick around Katara’s for very long. In fact, he kinda hightailed it out of there. Sokka didn’t know the guy super well so he couldn’t be certain, but he seemed a bit restless, a bit on edge after they left the bathroom. Before heading out, he offered curt goodbyes to everyone present, polite yet stilted. How the fuck he made even _that_ seem endearing was beyond Sokka, but there it was.

“Where were you hiding him?” Sokka asked Katara a millisecond after the door shut behind Zuko. It was just the two of them standing by the door.

“Excuse me? I’ve been trying to introduce the two of you for ages.”  
  
“You could have tried harder! Worst. Wingwoman. Ever.”

“Please,” she said indignantly. 

“You could have at least handed him the phone one of those times you called me for math homework help. That fucking voice.” Rough and scratchy in all the right ways. “Or you could have shown me, like, a picture. He…” Sokka didn’t even know what to say. He had literally never even _met_ a prettier guy. His thoughts were a jumble of images — stylishly rumpled inky black hair; soft skin; sweet, easy blushes; mesmerizing eyes that must have been cut from actual gemstones… “He has the most unreal eyes I’ve ever seen,” is what he finally landed on.

Katara crossed her arms defensively with a challenging raise of her eyebrows. “Well, I showed him a picture of _you_ _._ Or, he found one. A while ago.”

Heat prickled on the back of Sokka’s neck. “And?”

“He was speechless.”  
  
“In a good way?”

Katara shrugged and pursed her lips, her eyes gleaming with mischief. She turned on her heels and walked back to the living room to the rest of the group.

“Katara! In a good way??” 

  
  


**iii.** **_the bonfire_ **

Why Zuko kept storming off so quickly was beyond him. 

He thought they were all having a nice time together. _Sokka_ was having a nice time, at least. It was gorgeous to watch Zuko open up, to listen to him excitedly talk about his playwriting, his job, his passionate opinions about art. He let out a surprised and adorable _giggle_ when Sokka had matter-of-factly announced that a portrait of Mariah Carey should replace Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and then later that night he quoted _Clueless_ , for crying out loud. Sokka had never before felt so instantly addicted to the company of another person. 

But then again. Maybe Zuko's hurried escape wasn’t so mysterious. He had just heard that Sokka was basically a disaster when it came to dating. Suki had tried to help Sokka save face but Zuko probably managed to read between the lines. Sokka’s recent batch of dates-that-led-to-nowhere had nothing to do with his high standards and everything to do with the fact there was...well, there was never a point. The dates were usually boring or awkward, if not straight up awful. Sure, the last guy he had briefly dated was handsome but every time Sokka tried to start a real conversation with him his eyes just seemed to glaze over. There was never a spark.

Sokka stared into the bonfire, trying to find comfort and ease in its warm, steady glow. He knew he was going to be kicking himself all night for not making a better impression on Zuko, for not finding the special words to make him stay for another hour or two. But he had been in Zuko’s presence twice now and neither time did Zuko appear to be interested in lingering around Sokka for longer than necessary. 

The fire crackled and Sokka sighed to himself, turning his attention back to the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos & comments delight me to no end <3


	5. New Year's Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to finally share the conclusion to this fic!! Thank you to everyone who left such nice comments along the way <3 I would not have had the energy to update as often otherwise.

It was New Year’s Eve and Zuko was laying in bed staring at his apartment ceiling, wrapped up in Sokka’s hoodie. He really needed to give it back. He really needed to stop wearing it. But he didn’t want to.

Zuko had not seen Sokka since Aang’s birthday, one month before. He had left the bonfire without Sokka’s number, without even asking for it. 

He had chickened out. The heat from the fire, from Sokka’s gaze, from the alcohol in his veins. From the bitter truth that Sokka had a long queue of eager suitors, all more attractive and alluring than Zuko could ever hope to be. It was all too much. He took off before anyone else, basically fled to his car as if someone had told him to get lost even though no one had.

Zuko sighed, running his hand through his disheveled hair. He was at an impasse. He couldn’t work up the courage to make a move on his intoxicating crush, and he couldn’t figure out how to just...move on. Sokka was too enticing. A beautiful, charming guy who was warm, kind. Thinking about him made Zuko’s stomach flutter. Zuko wanted him, wanted to be caught in Sokka’s orbit as close as possible, for as long as possible. But whenever he thought about that striking smile, those impossibly blue eyes, that startling, carefree laugh he couldn’t reason how someone like that would be interested in him. 

Zuko felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. An incoming call from Azula. 

“Hello.”

“Are you moping around?”

Zuko sat up in bed and dusted crumbs off his hoodie. Er, Sokka’s hoodie. Oops. “No.”

“You can’t even lie convincingly for a single syllable,” she said. He could imagine her lips tightening into a sneer, her eyes narrowing in judgment. At least her judgment stemmed more out of concern these days and less out of wrath. Progress.

“What do you want, Azula?” he said with a sigh. 

Zuko and Azula’s relationship was leagues above what it had once been. Long gone were the days when Azula would reach out to Zuko only to verbally attack with malice. They had started trying to patch things up between themselves in earnest a couple years before. Still, they only saw each other roughly once every three or four months, and they spoke on the phone even less.

“I’m hosting a New Year’s Eve party tonight.”  
  
“Congratulations.”  
  
“Come.”

Zuko groaned. “Thank you for the short notice invite but I’m staying in tonight.”

“As expected. Mai told me you’ve been holed up in your apartment for days, pining desperately for some man.”

“Mai needs to mind her own business. And I’ve been doing other things, too.”

“Don’t spend tonight alone. Come over. There will be a sea of people, no one’s eyes will be on you. Just get lost in a crowd for a couple hours and ring in the new year. Trudge back home to your sad little cave at 12:01 if you like.”

Zuko scratched at his head. Maybe it would be good to leave his place for a bit, especially tonight. He needed a distraction, lest he lose his mind and impulsively text _someone_ for their hot brother’s number. He didn’t need Katara’s teasing reply to be the last thing he saw before the new year.

“Okay, okay, fine. I just...Let me change real quick and then I’ll head over in a bit.”

The line went dead and Zuko tugged off the hoodie.

The party was in full swing by the time Zuko arrived. It seemed as if everyone in the city was celebrating at Azula’s apartment. Zuko found it difficult to even get past the entrance as he tried to weave between all the bodies. People were chatting, dancing, laughing, screaming, drinking. Azula’s impressive sound system was blaring an Ariana Grande song and the theme of the night was obviously something along the lines of ‘golden excellence.’ Everywhere Zuko turned he saw gold, gold, gold. Gold streamers, gold lights, gold dresses, gold vests, gold sashes, gold noise-makers. Zuko looked down at his black button up and black jeans. He somehow managed to stick out like a sore thumb, despite his efforts.

“Hello, brother.”

Zuko turned to face the sweetly acidic voice that belonged to his sister. 

“Thanks for the memo about the golden color scheme. I look like a fly drowning in a glass of champagne.”

Azula cackled. “You’ve never been the festive type anyway, Zuzu.” She was, of course, dressed head to toe in gold, even wearing a gold tiara-like headpiece that said Happy New Year in gleaming cursive. “Speaking of, you need a drink.” Azula looked around and grabbed a glass of sparkling wine from a server’s tray. She handed the glass to Zuko. “I need to make the rounds, and track down Ty Lee.” Azula’s sharp smile shifted into something softer, as it often did when mentioning her girlfriend. But it was only for a moment. Her expression reverted back to her intense gaze. “Drink up,” she ordered. “I expect you to be in better spirits next time I see you.”

Zuko took a small sip from his glass as Azula seemed to evaporate into thin air, immediately lost in the crowd. Zuko continued sipping and once his glass was empty, he traded it for a full one from a passing tray. 

As his brain began to fizzle, he swayed ever so slightly every time another stranger pushed past him. He wondered if this night would dissolve into just a foggy memory, or if he should attempt to cling to coherence. At that moment, he glanced up and...no. 

No. It couldn’t be.

But it was. Sokka was standing in the distance, had seemingly just arrived. Zuko couldn’t do anything but stare. And stare. And—

Sokka’s eyes, which had been roving over the crowd, met his. An electric jolt ran through Zuko’s body at the recognition spooling over Sokka’s face, at the way he instantly broke out into a huge grin. He turned to the man next to him and muttered something and then headed over. To Zuko.

The pounding in Zuko’s rib cage suddenly matched the pounding of the speakers as Sokka approached.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Sokka yelled over all the noise, pulling Zuko into a hug. Zuko felt like he was melting, his hammering heart now pressed against a warm, solid chest. He breathed in the heady scent of Sokka, fresh and crisp and vaguely earthy, wafting over him like an ocean breeze. 

As they broke apart, Zuko tried to remember how words worked. “I—my sister. This is her place.”

Sokka raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. “This place is huge.”

Zuko nodded. “She’s the CEO of her own company. A tech startup downtown.”

“Impressive.”  
  
Again, Zuko nodded. The acknowledgement would have grated him in the past, but his sibling rivalry was long over. It had tapered out around the time Zuko and Azula stopped taking their father’s calls altogether.

He looked Sokka up and down. He was wearing a long-sleeve blue and lavender button-up and navy blue slacks. “Looks like you also missed the dress code memo.”

Sokka glanced down at his outfit and laughed. “Yeah, this was all spur of the moment. My coworker invited me last minute and he definitely did not tip me off about the theme. His sequin gold jumpsuit makes a lot more sense now.”

Zuko rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling giddy about Sokka’s unexpected presence but also trying to tamp down on his nerves. “Yeah, I feel kind of out of place, but that’s sort of the norm for me.” His gaze flickered down to his shoes then back up to Sokka.

He would never understand how Sokka managed to look so open and attentive whenever Zuko rattled off something banal, but there he was, doing it again. “Well, standing out isn’t always a bad thing.” Sokka’s mouth bent into a crooked smile. “Plus, you’re always golden, with those pretty eyes.”

Zuko had no idea what to say. He opened his mouth but then just stayed silent. Oh gods, was he gaping? He might be gaping. 

Sokka’s eyes widened and he cleared his throat, his face darkening. Was that a blush? Was this demi-god in front of Zuko blushing? 

Sokka let out a laugh and Zuko couldn’t help but wonder if it sounded a bit nervous to his ears. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Sokka shook his head, seemingly struggling to figure out how to end his sentence. 

A man gripped Sokka's elbow. “Sokka! Let me introduce you to Gary! He’s that professor I told you about.”

Sokka glanced at the man, presumably his coworker, and then back at Zuko. “Sorry—” 

Zuko nodded. “It’s—It’s okay.”

Sokka bit his lip in thought as his coworker tugged him away. “I’ll find you later!”

And then, just like Azula, he was swallowed up by the swarm of bodies. Zuko sighed and then turned away, suddenly feeling aggressively sober. 

He wandered off, shoving past strangers until he made it to the entrance of Azula’s state-of-the-art-but-barely-used kitchen. And there she was, standing by the counter, or rather, standing between Ty Lee’s legs, who was sitting on the counter. 

Azula’s lips were hovering near Ty Lee’s ear, and Ty Lee giggled at something Azula had just said. 

Zuko cleared his throat and Ty Lee looked over at him. “Zuko! So glad you could make it! Nice shirt.”

Zuko smiled in spite of himself. Ty Lee’s enthusiasm was always at least a little bit contagious. “Thanks, Ty.” He glanced at Azula and she was already staring back hard, eyes calculating and devious. He raised his eyebrow at her.

“I saw you in the distance just a moment ago, chatting up a man. Did you let him slip away?”

“He’s not...That’s, um, that’s just Sokka. Katara’s brother. And he had to go meet some people with his friend.”  
  
“Sokka?” Azula’s face warped into undisguised amusement. “That’s the man, isn’t it? The one Mai said you’ve been pining after? How fantastic.”  
  
Ty Lee perked up even more, if that was possible. “Zuko’s pining?”

“NO. I—I don’t know.”

“You do know,” Azula said, her snide tone attempting to mask genuine interest, but at this point Zuko knew her better. 

And Azula knew Zuko better.

Zuko sighed and then buried his face in his hands for a moment before looking up. “Yes, okay, fine. I’ve been pining a little bit and the person I’ve been pining after has been him, but. It’s not a good idea or a realistic crush. Though he did just say something kinda...” Zuko’s thoughts drifted off for a moment before he shook himself back to the present. “Anyway, I’m a mess when it comes to relationships, and Katara’s brother, um, is not the sort of person to make a mess with no matter how—how—how….”

Azula eyed Zuko closely, her lips pursed. “Do you know why I didn’t invite you to this party until tonight?”  
  
Zuko blinked. “Because you were on the fence on whether or not you even wanted me to come?”  
  
“No,” she said curtly. “Because I knew that if I gave you more than an hour to decide, you would overthink it too much and decline the invitation.”  
  
She strode over to him and gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder. Moments of physical affection between the two of them were few and far between. “Don’t stand in your own way. You’ve never been good at asking for what you want, or believing that you deserve it. But you do.”

Zuko froze, unsure of what to say. She arched an eyebrow at him. 

“Thanks, Azula, um. I appreciate that.” 

Azula nodded once and then removed her hand from his shoulder, retreating back to Ty Lee.

“I’m gonna...I’m gonna go see if I...I’ll see you around.” Zuko wanted to track down Sokka as soon as possible, before he lost his nerve.

“You do you, Zuk’s!” Ty Lee giggled, already nuzzling her face against Azula’s neck. “Go find Suka!”  
  
“Sokka,” Azula muttered.

“Him too!”

Finding Sokka was easier said than done. After searching for a good fifteen minutes, and stepping on more than a couple strangers’ toes, Zuko squeezed his way out onto Azula’s balcony for some fresh air and some partial-privacy. He glanced down at the time on his phone. 11:50pm. Zuko breathed in deeply, inhaling the cool night air and staring down at the traffic jam below, turning Azula’s recent words over in his head. They meant more to him than he could ever say, even if he wasn’t in complete belief of them yet.

“There you are.”

Zuko closed his eyes and bit down on a small smile before turning around. Sokka walked closer, then leaned against the railing, his dazzling, easygoing smile in full force.

For the first time, Zuko was not startled or even all that surprised by Sokka’s entrance. 

He thought back to the first time he met Katara, his brilliant, precocious friend, who sat in the single open seat of an advanced lit class she had only _barely_ managed to convince the strict, anti-freshman professor to let her take. An open seat next to Zuko. 

He thought back to all the delicious details she let slip about Sokka throughout the years, details about his kindness, his sense of humor, his intelligence, his generosity, his charm. 

He thought about all the little decisions Sokka and Zuko both made that led them to take jobs in the same city, about the fact that Zuko had been reluctant to meet Katara’s friends that Friday night but she had insisted, and Sokka’s date had ended early, and Aang had the whim to throw a ball at Zuko’s face, and Zuko suddenly required careful, gentle medical attention. 

He thought about the bonfire and this New Year’s Eve party, two gatherings he hadn’t expected to be invited to, hadn’t expected himself to want to attend, but he had been invited. And he had attended.

It was as if there was a single thread tugging them toward each other, and Zuko never wanted it to sever. 

Sokka’s eyes twinkled but he bit down on his bottom lip, almost looking nervous. “I wanted to ask you a question.”  
  
The words barely registered with Zuko. He had made his decision. He wanted to tell Sokka exactly how he felt and he wanted to do it _right . now ._

“I need to tell you something,” he blurted with a sudden intensity that made Sokka widen his eyes.

“Oh—okay. What’s up?”

Zuko licked at his lips, his eyes darting around the balcony before settling back on Sokka’s face. Okay. This was it. “I’m not good at this. I’ve never been good at this.” He gestured between himself and Sokka. “Not the flirting or the asking out or the speeches—and—and I—I still can’t really imagine how weird it must be for you—for me—I know this might seem so random to you. And I’m your sister’s friend. But I like you. So much. And I will regret it forever if I don’t at least try to convince you to—to go on a date with me. Just like I regret not making a move or saying anything at the bonfire. Or asking you out at Katara’s place. But I’m—I’m asking now. If you want—if—if that’s okay.”

He cringed internally but tried to keep his face neutral, his hands steady.

Sokka was frozen, eyes large, mouth hanging open. After a moment, Sokka finally snapped to, shaking himself and moving closer, grabbing Zuko’s hands and holding them in his own. Zuko relished in the sensation. Sokka’s hands felt soft, calloused in just a few spots, and so very warm. 

“I feel the same way,” Sokka breathed out, his exhale visible in the cold air. “I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw you. I really, really, _really_ meant it when I said you had a great face.” He let out a small laugh. “I regretted not asking you out so bad that night or at Aang’s birthday thing. I mean it. I spent days thinking about how I must have fumbled everything somehow. I was really worried this was all in my own head and one-sided and that you wanted nothing much to do with me...I sorta hoped we could bump into each other again and if we did I promised myself I would not fuck it up.” His eyes turned teasing. “Or let you run away so fast.” 

Sokka’s massive grin was infectious, Zuko could feel a matching smile stretch out onto his own face. This was going so much better than he had ever dared to hope. He looked down at their joined hands as Sokka gave them a squeeze. A rush of warmth rippled through his body.

“Wait,” he said suddenly, remembering. “Is that what you meant when you said you wanted to ask me a question?”  
  
Sokka laughed, a little sheepish. “Um, well.” He pulled his left hand away to get a look at his watch. “It’s 11:55 pm and I was _going_ to ask if you wanted to be my New Year’s Eve kiss.”

“Oh.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Smooth.”

“I try.”

A few minutes later the countdown began, everyone inside the apartment yelling “20...19...18…” But Zuko and Sokka stayed outside on the balcony, huddled together for warmth. Finally they heard “2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR” and it surprised Zuko that he could barely hear their raucous cries over his erratically thumping heart. Sokka’s left hand rose to cup Zuko’s cheek and it reminded him of the night in Katara’s bathroom. Zuko stared at Sokka for one final moment, nervous yet hungry gold eyes meeting blue, and then edged nearer ever so slightly to close the distance between their lips. He instantly sighed into it—the heat and the softness. Sokka parted his lips and it was all too irresistible, Zuko couldn’t help but press further, licking into Sokka’s mouth. He felt rather than heard the groan emanating from Sokka’s throat and he swallowed it up. Time became glittering and golden and so hazy, Zuko couldn’t tell if a few seconds or minutes had passed, but he knew the year and this kiss were both bright and brand new. He vaguely heard the cheers, the popping of confetti just one room away. He slid his tongue against Sokka’s, memorizing his taste, and he felt Sokka’s teeth scrape against his own chapped lips. He shuddered in appreciation and Sokka broke away, mouth curving into a smile. 

“You should’ve brought my hoodie—you’re still shivering.”

Zuko leaned forward for another kiss, then another. Then he drew back and held Sokka’s heavy gaze, suddenly feeling brave. “We can go back to my place right now and get it.”

“That’s a good idea. That’s a really, really good idea.”

***

Zuko didn’t believe in much and he wasn’t sure if he believed in fate, but he did believe in whatever intricate machinations led him to stand right next to Sokka on the same balcony, overlooking a hectic city, on the precipice of a new year. 

He believed in the anchoring look in Sokka’s eyes, steady and fond.

He believed in the pressure of Sokka’s lips against his own, the feel of their intertwined hands as they made their way down one sidewalk and another, and another, and another, pausing for only a few moments to steal a brief, heated kiss.

He believed in just how natural and right it felt to have Sokka in his apartment, how Sokka had looked lovely in that blue hoodie but absolutely devastating against Zuko’s red bedsheets. 

He believed in the jump of Sokka’s muscles beneath Zuko’s thorough and ravenous hands, in Sokka’s blue eyes blown dark, in his firm grip on Zuko’s hip, in his ragged breaths, in the pinch between his brows. In the friction of their bodies, the heat between their skin. 

After, they lay side by side and Zuko stroked Sokka’s arm, tracing invisible patterns over his detailed tattoos. Sokka looked blissed out, content and relaxed, and Zuko imagined his face must look the same. 

Sokka pulled away for a moment to check his watch. 1:01 AM, January 1st. 

“Is it okay if I stay the night?” he asked softly, his fingers threading through Zuko’s hair.

Zuko leaned in closer and left a gentle kiss on his temple. “I insist.” There was a beat of silence, and even though everything felt so slotted into place, Zuko couldn’t help himself. “Was...was tonight okay? I hope it didn’t feel too rushed or—or—” 

Sokka grinned and rolled over, pinning Zuko underneath his body and effectively interrupting Zuko’s scattered thoughts. He pressed his lips behind Zuko’s ear, teasing the sensitive spot with his tongue and teeth. When he finally spoke, his breath was hot against Zuko’s skin. “Best first date I’ve had all year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Kudos & comments are ever-appreciated xx


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